1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to connectors adapted to join electrical or electronic components having aligned multiple contacts of different pitches and, more particularly, to an improved type IEEE 488-D communications connector which can be readily and inexpensively manufactured.
2. Description of the Prior Art
With the widespread growth of both the electronics and telecommunications industries, and with the concomitant need to electrically connect a variety of electrical or electronic components with telecommunications equipment, there has been a significant demand for connectors which serve the purpose. However, historically, the telecommunication industry has customarily used a pitch of 0.085 inches, that is the centerline to centerline distance between adjacent conductors, in their input and output connectors. In contrast, most others in the electronic industry who utilize mass termination techniques customarily use a pitch of 0.050 inches. Therefore, when it becomes necessary to interconnect communications equipment with other electronic equipment, there exists the requirement to translate from 0.085 inch pitch contacts to 0.050 inch pitch contacts.
In the early days, there were no adapters for this purpose and connections were performed by soldering mating conductors, one by one. Subsequently, however, connectors were devised to accommodate such a need. One such double-ended connector is disclosed in the U.S. Pat. No. 3,990,797 to Narozny, issued Nov. 9, 1976. The Narozny connector provides mating electrical engagement between differently pitched conductive elements such as flat cable having one spacing between adjacent conductors and a pin or socket connector having a second different spacing between its elements. It utilizes individual contacts for individual mounting in side-by-side relationship within a housing. Each contact is formed with tubular end portions connected by flat central portions. The housing has appropriately positioned and spaced openings in its forward and rearward ends and each individual contact is then bent to the proper shape and inserted into its associated openings. The contacts are of complex shape and require extensive steps in a manufacturing process. Furthermore, the insertion of each contact into its housing is a laborious and time consuming procedure, since the contacts must be positioned one at a time.
There have been other advances concerned with solutions to quickly and accurately place multiple contacts into the housing of a connector. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,731,254 to Key, issued May 1, 1973, discloses a dual-in-line connector which incorporates two sets of parallel, spaced, individual terminals fashioned from sheet metal. The terminals extend between a pair of transversely extending carrier strips. When a set of the terminals is positioned upon its associated housing and post portions bent downwardly, the carrier strips are severed from the terminals and removed. Each set enters the housing at an opposite end and extends partially into the housing where they terminate in side-by-side relationship with the other similar set of terminals.
Another such instance is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,186,988 to Kobler, issued Feb. 5, 1980. The Kobler patent discloses a modular electrical receptacle adapted for mounting on a circuit board. Like the Key patent, Kobler discloses plural spring contact members which initially extend between carrier strips for ease and accuracy of placement in the housing of the connector. When inserted into the receptacle, and the carrier strips removed, the spring contacts have one pitch for engaging a plug which is inserted into the receptacle and another pitch for engaging the circuit board on which the receptacle is mounted.
However, each of these devices exhibits drawbacks related to the manufacturing process in that, in each instance, the contacts must be manually bent or shaped to conform to pre-established configuration. In each instance, this is a laborious and time consuming procedure which undesirably increases the cost of the finished connector.